Cup dispenser



S. F. ANDERSON CUP DISPENSER Jan 16, 19s;

2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Sept. 26, 1946 llllllik Ill IHIIW Jan. 16, 1951s, F, ANDERSQN 2,538,185

CUP DISPENSER Filed Sept. 26, 1946 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 UNITED STATES atoFFics CUP DESPENSER Swan F. Anderson, Rockford, 111., assignor of one.-half to Edith M. Anderson, Rockford, Ill.

ApplicationSeptember 26, 1946, Serial No. 699,576

7 Claims. 1

This inventionpertains to an improved cup dispenseryof the type whichmay be employed to automatically dispense paper cups or the like in anice cream filling machine.

An object of the invention is the provision of a cup dispenser-which maybe readily coordinated with the operationof afilling machine topositively dispense a single. cup atpredetermined intervals and.whichis-rugged, inexpensive and foolprooi. cup dispenser which, maybereadily adapted for use with cups of different depths and sizes.

Otherobjects-and advantages will become apparent ,from thefollowing-description, in connection with-the drawings; in which Figure1 is a side view of a cup dispenser made in accordance with the presentinvention shown in the normal or downstroke position;

Fig. 2:--is a top; partially cut-away view of Figure -1,WithiCHDS-Omittfid; taken "on the line 22 Fig, 3 isa-sectional-siderview of Figure 1- taken on. linee3--3 5 Fig; 4 is alviewsimilartoFigure 1 showing the dispenser in'theupstroke-position justafter. the bottom cup hasbeen ejected;

Fig; 5-is asectionalside view of:thed-ispenser takenon the--line 5 5 ofFig; 2showing the-parts in the normalposition;

Fig: dis a. View similar;v to Fig.- 5 showing theparts'inaniintermediateposition, .just before ejecting; the. bottom cup;

Fig. '7 isa-.viewsimilar to Fig. 51showing the parts-at the topof theupstroke position (this is the.- same position as also'showngin Fig. 4),and

Figgs is antenlarged: vertical sectional view of Fig;- 2 taken on1ine-8.-3.

In the--drawings,- a stationary frame generally designated I has ahorizontal rectangular plate 2 with: atcircularwopening-'3' and issupported by screws-ton .a'zvert-ical plate fi which carries studl=mounted-by -wing -nut 8 onthe member. 9 which is fragmentarily shownand which, will usually be'a partof the-frame'structure of the fillingmachine with-which the dispenser'is adapted to be used; At' the-bottomofplate ii another horizontal plate-sitis;mounted-, by screws 12; andservesasarguicle for the movable frame now to be described;

The movable frame includes a-member it (Fig.

8) rhaving-a-rectangular plate portion-iE;-with anopening-ii-imralignment with an integral annulare-Xtension. 18. Theopening H is beveled at. I9to facilitate the entrance of cups. The

movable .frame member -l l.-carries-.-fonrupstanding iguidelrods 2 lterminatingina-l spacer fitting.

Another object is the provision of a.

2 22.for maintaining. them in proper spacedrelation, the guide'rodsdefining a vertical feedchannel or magazine forthe round paper cups -23.These cups are generally frusto-conical in shape to facilitate stackingand. will. usually have. a rolled or beaded top edge 24. Such rolling,top edge, however, is not essentiaLto. the... operation of the presentcupdispenser. inasmuch as it, will operate satisfactorily without anenlargeduedge.

Cup retaining or supporting. means, in, this case a skirt comprising twopairs. of. diametrically opposed cup retaining pawl members 25, is.provided to support the stack of cups and to ,be displaceable at timesto permit the bottom .cup. to be ejected fromthestack 27. Each of, thesupporting members 26 has. an upper. (arcuate portion28 fitted to.loosely engage theoutside of the-movable frame extension I8. Eachofthesupporting pawls-Zficarries aninwardly extending pin 2.9. which isloosely engaged within holes 3! in the movable frame ld for pivotalsupport. The supporting pawls 26. each have alower portion 32.with aninwardly extending 1ip,33, to supportably engage the under sideof the.rolling top 24 of the bottom cup, thereby in turn supporting the othercup in. the stack. Means is provided-to urge'the lips-33radially inwardto a position to normally supportthe-bottom cup in this manner; thismeans may comprisevv weighted lever means (not shown) or as shown in thedrawings a resilient member such as the endless coil spring 34 carriedin grooves 36 formed beneath the pins 2.9. Thus, it will be seen thatthe spring 34 serves both to hold the retaining members 25 in place onthe frame Mas well as to urge the lips 33 inward to their; normalposition where they will-beinline' to support the stack of cups.

A vertical lift rod 3! has its upper end'bolted to the movableframe-I l.The rod 3! is guided within openings 38 and 39 in the stationary plates-2 and! I, respectively. The bottom end of the rod 3! carries a stud Mand lock nut 42 and an operating lever i3 is carried therebetween.

This operating lever will:be periodically driven through a lift (to Fig.4 position) and return (to Fig. 1 position) operation by thefillingmachine with-which the dispenser is used. The filling machine itselfforms no'part of the present inv vention and-hence it and its connectionwith the rammatically as; theabelt l ll moving in, the direction of thearrow 46. As shown in Fig. 3 a guide rod 47 is bolted at its top end tothe frame I4 and is reciprocably journaled within opening 48 formed inplate 2.

A second set of pawls 49 is provided for dis engaging the bottom cup byholding it against upward movement when the movable frame is movedupward to lift the supporting pawls 26. Each of these disengaging or cupejecting pawls 49 has an inwardly extending lower lip 5| abuttablyengageable with the top edge of the lower cup. At the upper end each ofthese pawls is pivoted on a pin 52 carried by the arms of a U-shapedmember 53 (see Fig. 2) which is supported on the stationary frame I byscrews 54. Each pawl 49 is inwardly urged by a formed wire spring 56supported on the under side of the plate 2 by screws 51; obviously,weighted lever means may also be employed for this purpose.

While it is preferable that the movable frame I4 which carries the cupsbe movable so as to assure that the stack of cups will be keptperiodically loosened to feed positively downward with each operation oflever 43, this is not essential, as frame I4 may be fixed and frame Imay be movable by suitably rearranging parts. It is important, however,that with the particular modification illustrated in the drawings thepawls 26 and 49 be moved with respect to one another, but which is fixedand which is actually movable is a matter of preference, depending onthe peculiarities of a particular installation.

As will be seen, each of the retaining pawls extends around frame 14somewhat less than a full quadrant, leaving a space 58. This space iswidened somewhat by cutting back one side edge of each of the retainingpawls 26 to provide an outwardly and downwardly facing diagonal shoulderor cam surface 59 which is engageable with the inner surface 6| of thedisengaging pawls 49 for moving the latter outward to clear the tops ofthe cups when the movable frame l4 carries a retaining cam surface 59downward during the downstroke of lever 43.

Operation In explainin now the operation of the device, assume that themodification shown is used to stack and dispense frusto-conical Dixiecups to a machine which moves the dispensed cups automatically fromstation to station to fill them with ice-cream and cap them. The lever43 will be moved once through an up and down cycle to drop a single cuponto the moving belt 44 at predetermined intervals.

Normally the dispenser parts will be positioned as shown in Figs. 1 and5 with the bottom cup being held by the supporting member lips 33. Eachother cup in the stack will be seated on the false bottom 62 of the cupbeneath so as to provide a definite spacing between adjacent top edges.In the present instance, the supporting lip 33 is made to engage theunderside of the roll top 24; in other types of cups, as for instancethose not formed with a roll, the supporting members 26 may be formed toengage the bottom cup in any other suitable place. In this normal(Fig. 1) position the disengaging pawls 49 will be held outwardlyagainst springs 56 by engagement of the supporting member outer surface64 with the pawl internal surface 6|.

When the operating lever 43 is moved to lift the movable frame M thesupporting members 26 and the stack of cups will be liftedsimultaneously. As the supporting members are lifted their outersurfaces 64 will be moved upward out of engagement with the pawl surface6!. These pawls 49 will then be urged inwardly by springs 56 to aposition of alignment with the top edge of the bottom cup (see Fig. 6).Further upward movement of the supporting member lips 33 will force thebottom cup aginst the lips 5i of the disengaging pawls 49. The outwardpressure thus created against the supporting member lips 33 will expandthe latter against the spring 34 until the bottom cup is released todrop by gravity onto the belt 44. The supporting members 26 will then becontracted immediately by spring 34 and the lips 33 will engage the nextcup rim to prevent it from dropping. The operating lever 43 will thencomplete its upstroke to the uppermost position shown in Figs. 4 and 7.

During the last half of the operating cycle, namely, as the lever 43 ismoved downward to return to normal position, the supporting members 26will be moved downwardly to cause cam surfaces 59 to move thedisengaging pawls 49 radically outward to clear the bottom cup rim andplace the disengaging pawl lips 5| in an upward position with respect tothe bottom cup rim so as to eject that cup on the next operation.

Succeeding operations Will be as described above. One cup will beejected from the bottom of the stack with each movement of the operatinglever 43.

While a particular form of the present invention has been shown it willbe apparent that minor changes therein will readily suggest themselvesto others skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scopeof the invention. Having thus described the invention, what is claimedas new is:

I claim:

1. A cup dispenser comprising a stationary frame, a movable frame forsupporting a stack of cups, a plurality of circularly arrangedsupporting members pivotally depending from said movable frame havingsurfaces for supporting the bottom cup in said stack, yieldable meansfor normally maintaining said members in a position to support saidbottom cup on said supporting surfaces, a plurality of circularlyarranged pawls depending from said stationary frame, means for urgingsaid pawls inwardly to engage the bottom cup, means for effectingmovement of said movable frame through a cycle of movement toward andaway from said stationary frame, and cam means actin between said pawlsand supporting members to move said pawls inwardly to engage the bottomcup of said stack and force the cup past the point of engagement withsaid supporting members as said movable frame moves away from saidstationary frame.

2. A cup dispenser having a circularly arranged vertically movablemember in which cups may be stacked and through which cups may be movedby gravity, said member having pivoted thereon a plurality of circularlyextending radially movable elements engageable with the bottom cup insaid stack to normally support it therein, resilient means foryieldingly retaining said elements inwardly to engage said bottom cup,said resilient means also serving to hold said elements in pivotedrelation on said member, and another member having a plurality ofcircularly arranged inwardly urged pawls engageable with an upwardlyfacing edge portion of said bottom cup, said pawls and said radiallymovable elements having mutually engaging cam surfaces thereon to permitthe inward movement of the pawls to 5. engage said upwardly facing edgeportion of the bottomcup and move the latter downwardly past saidelements when said movable member is moved upwardly with respect to theother.

3. In a cup dispenser, the combination of, a member in which cups may bestacked and through which cups may be moved by gravity, said memberincluding a plurality of spaced radially movable elements forsupportingsaid stack of cups, means for yieldingly holding-said elements inwardlyto a position to engage the bottom cup of said stack, fixed means havinga plurality of radially movable pawls shaped'to engage-the bottom cup,mutually engageable surfacesformed respectively on said pawls and saidradially mov l able elements for controlling the inward movement of thepawls, and means for effecting relative movement between said pawls andsaid elements whereby said pawls move inwardly to engage the bottom cupand strip the same from its position of support on the elements.

4. In a cup dispenser the combination of a magazine for retaining astack of cups of the type having a rolled rim including a movable platehaving an aperture for the passage of the cups, an annular flangeencircling said aperture and extending downwardly from said movableplate, cup retaining pawls disposed about the periphery of said flangeandhaving an inturned end portion shaped to engage the rim of the bottomcup in said stack to support the latter in the magazine, a pivotalconnection between each cup retaining pawl and the flange, spring meansengageable with said pawls at a position between the pivotal connectionsand the inturned ends normally urging the inturned ends toward their cupretaining position, means i or moving said magazine between opposedvertical positions, a fixed frame having an aperture shaped to pass acup therethrough and receiving the cup retaining pawls, cup ejectingpawls disposed about said aperture in the fixed frame and disposedbetween adjacent cup retaining pawls, said cup ejecting pawls having anend shaped to abut against the top edge of the rim, a pivotal connectionbetween each cup ejecting pawl and the fixed frame, spring biasing meansacting between the frame and the cup ejecting pawls to normally urge theends of said cup ejecting pawls to a position in which they areengageable with the rim of a cup, and cam means operable to effectmovement of said cup ejecting pawls radially outwardly from their normalspring biased position to clear the rim of the bottom cup when themagazine moves toward the frame and to effect movement of the cupejecting pawls to engage the rim of the bottom cup in the stack andforce the bottom cup past the cup returning means when the magazinemoves away from the frame to strip the bottom cup from the magazine.

5. In a cup dispenser the combination of a magazine for receiving astack of cups of the type having a rolled rim, annularly spaced cupretaining pawls depending from said magazine, means for mounting saidpawls on said magazine to be moved between positions in which the cupretaining pawls engage the rim of the bottom cup in said stack tosupport said stack in the magazine and a position permitting passage ofthe bottom cup past the cup retaining pawls, means for moving saidmagazine between opposed vertical positions, a fixed frame below saidmagazine having an aperture for receiving said magazine and cupretaining pawls, cup ejecting pawls, means for mounting said cupejecting pawls on said-' fr'ame-ato be movable between positions inwhich'theyarefree of -the cups in the stack and a' pos-ition in whichthey are normally engageable with-tli'e-rim of "the bottom cup, and cammeans actingb'e'tween the cup retaining and cup ejecting pawlspermitting movement of 5 the cup ejecting paw-ls into engagement'withthe rim ofthe bottom cup-andt'o-fo'rce'the bottom cup past the cupretaining-pawls when the magazine moves away fromthe frame and to movethe cup ejecting pawlsto 'b'e free of the cups when the magazine movestoward "the fixed frame;

In: a cup dispenser the combination of a first horizontal plate havingan aperture, a second horizontal plate disposed above said firsthorizontal plate and having an aperture in alignment with thelaperturein the first plate, means for moving *said second plate toward and awayfrom said first plate between adjacent and remote positions, verticallyextending guide rods rigidly mounted on said second plate in annularlyspaced relation with the aperture thereon to define a magazine forstoring cups in nested relation, cup retaining pawls depending from saidsecond plate in annularly spaced relation to the aperture thereon andextending through the aperture in the first plate, means for pivotallymounting said cup retaining pawls on said second plate, means fornormally urging said cup retaining pawls into engagement with the bottomcup in said magazine to provide a support therefor, cup ejecting pawlson said first plate, means for mounting said cup ejecting pawls on saidfirst plate in an annularly spaced relation to the aperture thereon andto depend therefrom, biasing means normally urging said cup ejectingpawls in a direction for engagement with the bottom cup and restrainingmeans on the cup retaining pawls acting on said cup ejecting pawls forrestraining movement of the ejecting pawls by said biasing means whenthe plates occupy said adjacent position, said restraining means beingoperative to permit movement of the cup ejecting pawls by said biasingmeans into engagement with the bottom cup in response to movement of thesecond plate toward the remote position to strip the bottom cup from themagazine and to effect movement of the cup ejecting pawls to therestrained position free of the stack in response to movement of thesecond plate toward said adjacent position.

'7. In a cup dispenser for cups having a beaded upper edge, thecombination of a first frame having an aperture for the passage of cupstherethrough, a second frame disposed above said first frame and havingan aperture for the passage of cups therethrough. means for fixedlymountsaid first frame, reciprocable means for moving said second frametoward and away from the first frame between adjacent and remotepositions, means on said second frame for defining a magazine for astack cups in nested relation, cup retaining pawls depending from saidsecond frame in annularly spaced relation to the aperture thereon andextending through the aperture the first frame, said pawls having aportion shaped to engage the head of the bottom cup in said stack, meansfor pivotally mounting said cup retaining pawls on said second frame,spring means normally urging said cup retaining pawls toward theposition in which said portions engage the head of the bottom cup ofsaid stack to provide a support for the stack of cups in said magazine,cup ejecting pawls having an end shaped to abut against the extreme topedge of 7 the bead of said bottom cup, biasing spring means normallyurging said ends of the cup ejecting pawls to a position to beengageable with the bead of said bottom cup, and restraining meansacting between said cup retaining and cup ejecting pawls for restrainingmovement of the ejecting pawls by said biasing means when the framesoccupy said adjacent position, said restraining means being operative topermit movement of the cup ejecting pawls by said biasing means intoengagement with the bottom cup in response to movement of the secondframe away from the first frame to effect movement of the cup ejectingpawls and to effect movement of the cup ejecting pawls to theirrestrained position free of the stack in response to movement of thesecond frame toward said adjacent position.

SWAN F. ANDERSON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

l UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,093,976 Claussen Apr. 21,1914 1,173,648 Cooley Feb. 29, 1916 10 1,524,420 Bohlman Jan. 2'7, 19251,582,451 Cooley Apr. 27, 1926 1,636,208 Bergmann July 19, 19271,683,950 Borchert Sept. 11, 1928 1,690,920 Bergmann et a1. Nov. 6, 19281,963,621 Geyer June 19, 1934 15 2,017,521 Whiting Oct. 15, 1935

